


Starting Right Now I'll Be Strong

by Squirrel_Stone



Series: Infinite [6]
Category: Inhumans, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Camping, Coming Out, Gen, Indoor Camping, Inhumans (Marvel), Polyamorous relationship, Polyamory, Sibling Love, Transgender Nathaniel Barton, transgender character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-24
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-04-20 21:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4802309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squirrel_Stone/pseuds/Squirrel_Stone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of minifics about Natasha Pietro Barton.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Timeline

**Author's Note:**

> So a lot of people on tumblr are talking about this headcanon where Nathaniel actually turns out to be Natasha, and I got inspired. Some of these will be coming out stories, some sibling adorableness stories, and there's even one about camping I have planned.

Age 5:  
\--Family Dynamics

Age 8:  
\--Campout

Age 14:  
\--Dirty Water Hot Dogs

Age 18:  
\--Fish and Reasons Why They're Not Fit for Human Consumption  
\--Break In


	2. Timeline

“Deep breaths Nat,” Cooper urges, rubbing his baby sister’s shoulder. The college senior and the high school freshman walk down the sidewalk, the latter shaking like a leaf. “You’ve got this, it’s just ordering lunch.”

The brunette teen nods and brushes a strand of hair behind her ear. It’s only just started to go past her shoulders, and she fidgets with it every chance she gets. She’s been Natasha on and off since she was four, but now it’s full time. “I can do this,” she whispers as the two approach a hot dog vendor.

The man behind the cart has gray-white hair, and his wrinkles just make the fact that he’s giving them a real smile that much more evident. “Hey there, Cooper, Nathaniel, you want your usual?”

Natasha smiles, though her eyes are wide with fear. There’s a moment of silence before she replies, “Yep!” Instantly, she hides behind her brother for protection against a nonexistent enemy.

Cooper sighs and grabs his little sister’s shoulder, pulling her back out in front of him. “Go on,” he orders softly. “Like we practiced.”

The vendor is worried, his mouth contorting into a frown and his eyes sharper with concern. He remains silent, waiting for whatever the younger Barton has to say.

Natasha swallows hard and nods, straightening her back and looking the vendor in the eye. She takes a deep breath and says, “Actually, I’m a girl now. My name is Natasha.” In one breath, a weight is lifted off her shoulders, and she turns to Cooper, a bright smile on her face. She laughs a tiny bit. “I did it!” she cheers.

Cooper’s smile goes from ear to ear, and he holds up his hands to receive a high-ten from Natasha. The two turn back to the vendor, waiting for his reaction.

The elderly man just smiles once more and wipes his hand on his apron before holding it out for Natasha to shake. “Well then it’s nice to meet you, young lady,” he says, and Natasha practically beams. “Now, do you still want your usual?”


	3. Fish and Reasons Why They're Not Fit for Human Consumption

Natasha doesn’t find out until she’s eighteen and eats fish for the first time. Yeah, it’s pretty weird that an adult has never had fish, but they just made Natasha feel like she was eating all of Ariel’s friends. For her roommate’s birthday, she requests fish for dinner, so salmon is on the menu whether Natasha likes it or not.

Kira and Solle snicker as Natasha wrinkles up her nose, but the fourth roommate, Kate, refuses to pay them any mind. It is her birthday after all, and Natasha wants to be a good sport. Kate had taken the three in, having more than enough room in her apartment to accommodate them and for whatever reason accepting the fact that they were from the future without question. “I was here during the invasion; nothing can surprise me anymore,” she had claimed.

Seeing as Kate has been nothing but chill about her new roommates’ activities, they all indulge her a little on her birthday. Hence, fish.

Natasha stares down at the fish for a moment before cutting into it, putting a tiny bite in her mouth. This finally earns a little snort out of Kate, and she shakes her head. “You have to take a larger bite,” she says. “You can’t taste it if you barely eat any.”

“Ugh, fine,” Natasha replies, rolling her eyes like a petulant child. She cuts a larger piece and shoves it in her mouth, chewing for a second or two before swallowing it, still mostly intact. She grimaces as the oversized bite forces its way down her esophagus, large enough that she can feel it going down.

Solle claps and Kate cheers, earning each of them a gentle swat from Kira. She has a soft spot for her older cousin, one born from playdates and dress-up sessions before Natasha understood what it meant.

Natasha almost giggles, but it catches in her throat. She coughs, a hand going to her neck as she realizes something is wrong. The air won’t go in, and it won’t come out. Her coughs fade as she runs out of oxygen, and she pushes herself back from the table.

It takes the other three a moment to realize that she isn’t just playing around. Kate gets up and walks over to the brunette, but she puts a hand out to stop her. Something is wrong; something is very, very wrong. She’s not choking; she wasn’t chewing when it started to begin with.

“Oh my god!” Solle screams, and Natasha looks down at her hands. Rocks are forming over them, locking her in place as they spread.

“What’s happening?” Kate asks.

“My powers aren’t working,” Kira declared, holding her left hand out but getting no results.

The rock begins to creep up her face, and she shuts her eyes just in time for them to be covered.

The next thing she knows, she’s on her hands and knees, gasping for breath. She’s alive, that’s the first thing that registers. She feels normal, looks normal, but something is obviously way wrong.

“What… the hell… was that?” she pants out, looking up at her roommates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses on what Natasha can do?


	4. Break In

Natasha was knocked over ten minutes into her trip into the facility. It was way less homey than she was used to, and some of her favorite hiding spots hadn’t even been made yet. Couch by the ventilation shaft? Nonexistent. It wouldn’t be put in the facility until she was five. The half-empty cupboard in the kitchen? Filled with pots. She wasn’t sure of when that would change, so it must be soon enough. Hell, the name wouldn’t even be changed to Avengers Mansion until she was seven.

Her biggest roadblock was a literal wall. That wall was _not_ supposed to be there; it hadn’t been there since she was… _ten_. Well shit.

Yep, she turned a corner, wound up in a hall, and when she tried to correct her course, she wound up in the kitchen. Great.

Sam Wilson, Uncle Sam for her, was standing there, eating lime ice cream out of the container, and he froze when he saw her. He was surprisingly calm as he set aside his snack, and before Natasha knew it, she was on her back.

The brunette threw her head forward, hitting Sam’s nose, and the second she was free, she was up and running. The world slowed down as she sped down the hall, away from the Avenger. She rounded a corner, passing by Wanda, whose eyes followed the brunette with clear shock.

Natasha didn’t stop until she was in the medical bay, and once there, she took a deep breath. It took a moment for her to realize that there were alarms going off, red lights flashing everywhere. She wasted no time, raiding the drawers and grabbing acupuncture needles and antiseptic. Natasha let out an instinctive whimper at the needles, but shoved them in her bag anyway. Kate had better have known what she was doing.


	5. Family Dynamics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Laura, Clint, Natasha, and Bucky are in a relationship, and Nathaniel realizes it's not the norm.

It took Nathaniel a long time to realize his family was different. He had Mom and Dad and Mama and Papa along with a whole host of aunts and uncles. When he was five and started kindergarten, that’s when something stuck out. All the other students only had two parents taking them to school on the first day.

A girl in a pink dress approached him during snack time, giving him the second clue. “Why did your aunt and uncle come with your mommy and daddy to drop you off?” she asked.

Nate scrunched his face up. “My aunties and uncles didn’t come,” he claimed. “Just Mom, Dad, Mama, and Papa.” The girl gave him an odd look, but Nathaniel didn’t notice, instead eying the dress. It was pretty and had purple butterflies stitched into the skirt; Lila had one like it and would let him wear it sometimes.

There wasn’t anything else for a while. At least, nothing Nathaniel noticed. The teachers would whisper, photos were taken of him by the paparazzi, all par for the course when three of your parents are Avengers. They made sure Nathaniel didn’t see the gossip rags calling the Avengers facility an orgy house with a distinct lack of condoms.

The third clue, the one that finally broke the camel’s back, was when Rhodey came to pick him up. He’d jumped into his uncle’s arms, only to get a snide comment from one of the moms nearby.

“Oh, let me guess, you’re part of the harem, too,” she remarked.

Rhodey narrowed his eyes but quickly regained a calm face. “Actually, I’m his uncle,” he explained. “Besides, four people in a committed relationship are hardly a harem.”

The woman made another remark, but Rhodey pulled Nathaniel close to his chest and covered his ears so he couldn’t hear. Rhodey loaded his nephew into the car and strapped him into his car seat. There was a brief moment in which Rhodey thought he’d gotten off scot-free, but Nathaniel spoke up.

“What’s a harem?”

Oh, it was definitely time for a talk.


	6. Campout

Three in the morning, and the whispers fill the tent in the living room. Sixteen, thirteen, eight, six, and four, the children still have a flashlight pointed at the ceiling at midnight.

“I’m not watching _Inside Out_ again,” the eldest, a boy with a mop of messy brown hair atop his head, whispers.

“But Cooper!” the youngest two, girls with black and red hair respectively, whine.

The second eldest, a girl with light brown hair pulled into twin braids, giggles. For the most part, she’s gotten tired of watching that movie, but watching Cooper groan and complain is worth it.

The eight-year-old remains silent, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. She glances up at the top of the tent, watching her and her siblings’ shadows.

“Nate, what about you?” Lila asks. “Movie or stories?”

The girl remains silent for another moment before she says, “I wanna be Natasha tonight.” She pauses before adding, “And I want stories.”

Cooper lets out a whoop before covering his mouth, his eyes widening. The youngest, Phoenix, scrambles for the flashlight, turning it out so they’re in complete darkness. The five remain completely still, not making a sound.

The tent is unzipped, and they all groan. Anastasia gives Cooper a light punch just as Bucky sticks his head in.

“Alright, you know we only agreed to let you do this because you promised to sleep,” the only adult in the tent chides. “If you keep talking, Mama’s gonna have to come out, and I know none of you want to deal with her this late.”

The kids all sigh. “Yes, Papa,” they chime. They all lie down, wrapping themselves in their sleeping bags.

Just as Bucky begins to zip the tent back up, Natasha speaks up. “Papa?” she asks. “Can I just be Natasha tomorrow?”

Bucky hesitates a moment before nodding. “Of course, sweetie,” he replies. “You can be whoever you want. Now, good night.”

“Good night!” the kids chorus, and Bucky zips up the tent. They wait exactly five minutes before they all pop out of their sleeping bags and the flashlight goes back on.


End file.
